Union to sue firms over blacklisting

THE union UCATT has drawn up list of companies it says are guilty of breach of confidence and misuse of private information

 

Ucatt says companies wilfully destroyed the lives of ordinary construction workers. Photograph: Frank Baron for the Guardian.

 

Some of Britain's biggest construction firms are to face fresh legal action over the way in which they allegedly blacklisted union activists for years.

 

Construction union Ucatt announced it was to sue the firms for breach of confidence and misuse of private information found in their files, the only option it says is available.

 

The deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, said this week he was deeply disturbed by reports of blacklisting and said the practice could be examined in the government's six-month review of industrial relations announced at the weekend.

 

The union launched the court cases to coincide with the TUC's anti-blacklisting day of action which takes place on Wednesday. It has employed the services of Mark Warby QC, a leading expert on privacy law, to take the cases on behalf of its members. A hearing is expected this week.

Ucatt is initially taking action against Balfour Beatty, Bam, CB&I, Costain, Carillion, Laing O'Rourke, Lend Lease, Sir Robert McAlpine and Vinci. It expects the list of companies to grow as more workers come forward to take action.

 

Ucatt is also to commence legal action against one of the former chairs of the Consulting Association, which held information, and a senior human resources manager for a blacklisting company. His name is being withheld at this stage for legal reasons.

 

Some construction firms, including some being joined to this legal action, have announced they have opened a compensation scheme to provide redress for construction workers. However, the union has raised a series of objections to the scheme, saying that it litigants are forced to accept gagging clauses, a refusal by the construction firms to accept liability and the fact that some offers will start as low as £1,000.

 

Steve Murphy, general secretary of Ucatt, said:

'Blacklisting companies wilfully destroyed the lives of ordinary construction workers and acted as though they were above the law. Our legal action will ensure that the victims receive the justice they deserve.'

 

The Labour government significantly tightened the law on blacklisting in 2010 after files were seized showing the true scale of the blacklisting undertaken by construction firms. They revealed a database of 3,000 names used to vet construction workers for more than 15 years.

 

Meanwhile, to mark the TUC's day of action against blacklisting, Ucatt is holding demonstrations outside construction sites and offices operated by Sir Robert McAlpine. McAlpine was the company most closely involved with the Consulting Association. It provided the first and last chairman; it paid the association's winding up costs in its final year of operation and it was the second highest user of its blacklisting service, spending £26,842.20.

 

Despite this leading role, Sir Robert McAlpine was not prosecuted by the Information Commissioner's Office and was not served with an enforcement notice.

 

Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd said in a statement it had never operated a blacklist:

'We are, and have always been, wholly committed to maintaining good relationships with our workforce and to responsible trade unionism. We recognise and respect the rights of workers to observe a day of action.  We have apologised for our involvement with The Consulting Association and the impact that its records may have had on any individual worker. We have joined with seven other construction companies to form the Construction Workers Compensation Scheme which is intended to make it as simple as possible for any worker with a legitimate claim to access compensation.'